Archdiocese to screen employees

25,000 workers to face check in sex-abuse fallout

September 18, 2003|By Geneive Abdo, Tribune religion reporter.

The Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago said Wednesday it will conduct criminal background checks of its 25,000 employees, including clerics, teachers and volunteers, as part of a new program to prevent child sex abuse.

Under the new initiative, "Covenant to Protect Children," the archdiocese will also require employees to enroll in a training course to help them identify and report child abuse cases. The first sessions will be held within 60 days and involve diocesan leaders, priests and principals.

"We are extraordinarily pleased with this program. It's historic and adds to our efforts to identify and respond to misconduct," said Jimmy Lago, chancellor of the archdiocese. "We believe sex abuse of children is a sin and crime and unspeakable horror," he said.

The archdiocese in July agreed to pay slightly more than $4 million to settle a lawsuit brought by four men who were allegedly molested by one of its priests. It is negotiating with lawyers representing other alleged victims and is expected to agree to a new settlement in the coming weeks. The settlements are in addition to $16.8 million the archdiocese acknowledges it already paid in abuse claims from 1993 through the beginning of this year.

Advocates for victims of sex abuse reacted skeptically to the new program.

Barbara Blaine, president of the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests, said the criminal checks will identify only those who have been convicted of sexual abuse. Therefore, priests who have been accused of sex-related crimes, but not found guilty, could escape detection.

Blaine also said the program was "too little and too late."

The U.S Conference of Catholic Bishops last year declared that all dioceses must implement programs to prevent child sex abuse. Others launched programs months ago. Chicago officials said Wednesday they were delayed because of the large number of employees involved; Chicago is the second largest archdiocese in the country.

The screening will use a private criminal records database and a child abuse and neglect database of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.

Staffers or volunteers found with criminal convictions on their records, and determined by an archdiocesan committee to pose a threat to youth, will not be permitted to continue working with children or adults, officials said.

The archdiocese also said it would develop a uniform code of conduct and an abuse-prevention educational program in every parish.